Jack Leydig: RUNNING VISIONARY

RUNNING VISIONARYJack Leydig:

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By Mark Winitz

In the late 1960s, when revolution riveted an en-tire generation, Jack Leydig and a handful of otherpioneers started a revolution of their own: theRunning Revolution. Its social impact was, per-haps, as significant as the vital movements forpeace, human equality, and women’s rights duringthat turbulent era. Today, road running has grownto an estimated 36 million runners and 15,500road races in the U.S. alone.*

In his prime, Jack was a running visionary

whose “Jack of All Trades” service in the sportrubbed off on thousands well before mega racesbecame commonplace. Frank Shorter’s inspiringgold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games marathonin Munich was merely the poster child for a trendthat Jack and a handful of others fueled in thestreets of everyday America.

If you’re a dedicated runner, and particularlyif you live in California, Jack’s name should be asfamiliar as John F. Kennedy’s, Martin Luther

King’s, or Gloria Steinem’s. Unfortunately, that’snot the case.

So let’s try to set that right.Today, my 65-year-old friend and mentor is

fighting a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomathat has spread to his brain. As I write this, Jack islooking forward to resuming his running aftermany rounds of radiation and chemotherapy.Through his challenges, Leydig has managed tomaintain his wry sense of humor.

Pete League

* Stats courtesy of the Running USA Road Running Information Center

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Leydig (this page, on left) being honored for his

service to the running community by Bill Clark at the

WVTC Old Timers Reunion on Sept. 12, 2009.

Opposite page: Jack (wearing the hat and

neckerchief) on the starting line.

In 1998, I wrote a story about Leydig for TheRunner’s Schedule magazine entitled “Jumpin’ JackFlash.” That was almost ten years before Jack wasdiagnosed with cancer. Two of Jack’s running con-temporaries (Gary Goettelmann and Bill Clark)suggested that it was time to update that story.After all, 2009 marks 40 years since the fortunateday when Leydig became president of the WestValley Track Club.

I first met Jack in the mid-70s during mystint at Runner’s World magazine. By then, he wasentrenched in numerous aspects of Northern Cal-ifornia running, as an event director, publisher,club president, and running shoe salesman. How-ever, in my mind two landmark occurrences forour sport in America happened before that.

In 1970, Bob Anderson moved his pioneer-ing publication, Distance Running News, fromKansas to a small office in Los Altos, re-named itRunner’s World, and hired his first employee, JoeHenderson.

In 1968, Jack Leydig finished his studies atSouthern Illinois University, where he’d run a 4:16mile best and a 9:30 steeplechase. But Jack’s colle-giate running career isn’t the defining event. Thatcame after Jack returned from college to his SanMateo roots. He ran a then-popular 8-mile race inTiburon and vowed to join whichever club cameout on top. That club was the West Valley TrackClub—a club that framed Jack’s leadership in thesport for more than a decade, and his running af-filiation that stands today.

Not that there were many clubs to choosefrom back then. But the inter-club competitionbetween WVTC and the Marin Athletic Club, SanFrancisco Olympic Club, Excelsior, and one or twoothers was fierce. Then there was Walt Stack’s Dol-phin South End Runners—a mostly recreationalclub—and the masters-oriented NorCal Seniors.

Exactly what did Leydig do? Where do Istart? I’ll touch a few highlights, and then leave therest to his friends.

He became WVTC’s president in 1969 andsoon after began organizing and directing races forthe club. In those pre-commercial days of run-ning—when $3 to $5 entry fees were the norm—most races were put on by clubs as club fundraisers.Jack’s 5-loop West Valley Marathon in San Mateowas a staple through the 1970s, hosting a couple ofAAU (precursor to TAC and USATF) nationalmarathon championships, and attracting some ofthe finest runners in the country. In 1972, a risingstar just out of Stanford University named DonKardong won the West Valley Marathon in2:18:06, qualifying for his first Olympic Trials.

Leydig also organized excellent cross coun-try events at the Crystal Springs course in Belmont.

One of them served asthe national champi-onship in 1974. Thestarting gun was firedby New Zealand’sOlympic gold medalist,Peter Snell. The race,won by Kenyan JohnNgeno, attracted a su-perbly deep field thatincluded Frank Shorter, Neil Cusack, DomingoTibaduiza, Gary Tuttle, Marty Liquori, BarryBrown, Kardong, and others.

Leydig founded the Christmas Relays in1973—a popular race that is the ancestor of today’sroad relays. In its early years, seven-person relayteams competed over a 50-mile course that ran onHighway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) between HalfMoon Bay and Santa Cruz (and sometimes theother direction). The event became so popular(growing to 1,700 runners) that Jack had to movethe race from the jammed highway to a looparound San Francisco’s Lake Merced where it stillruns today.

Jack started the WVTC Newsletter in No-vember 1969—one of the few sources of regionalrunning information around. At the suggestion ofPaul Reese, Leydig re-named that publication Nor-Cal Running Review in 1971, and went statewideand nationwide. Jack served as chief cook and bot-tle washer for that painstakingly typewritten andproduced magazine—rich in results, which even-tually swelled to almost 70 pages with a full-colorcover. After 10 years of dedicated effort—all alabor of love—he handed the magazine over toFresno’s Bill Cockerham, who merged it into hisalmost-as-early-conceived California Track News(the older sibling of today’s CTRN). Jack also pub-lished, in 1970, the first Northern California Dis-tance Running Annual for the PacificAssociation/AAU, whose LDR membership wasgrowing (almost 2,000 at that time).

In the mid 1970s, Jack established one ofthe earliest racing circuits for “points” right herein Northern California. Call it a forerunner ofthe breakthrough ARRA professional runningcircuit started by Don Kardong in 1981 andtoday’s Pacific Association/USATF Grand Prixrunning circuits.

In 1976, Jack married his close companionfor the next 20 years, Judy Gumbs-Leydig, a tal-ented athlete with whom he had a daughter andson (Erika, 28, and Chris, 24). Judy and other fe-male runners such as Penny DeMoss, Joan Ullyot,Frances Conley, Ruth Anderson, Judy Ikenberry,and other Californians were breaking molds in therelatively early days of women’s distance running.

In Jack’s WordsLast September, CTRN caught up with Jack for afew minutes during his busy daily schedule. Hereare some excerpts from that conversation.

On recruiting great athletes for the West ValleyTrack Club and putting together club teams: “I was-n’t really a hard recruiter. I just went up to folks andsaid, ‘Wanna join the club? Think about it.’ When[Alvaro] Mejia won Boston in ’71 that attracted a lotof attention for the club. Yes, I also put togetherclub teams, but only because nobody else wantedto do it. I did everything, but for me it was fun. Inthe early ’70s there really wasn’t much of a com-petitive structure once you were out of college, soa lot of college coaches like Marshall Clark andPayton Jordan [at Stanford] and Jim Hunt [at Hum-boldt State] let us run in their meets.”

On NORCAL RUNNING REVIEW: “It was total lunacy. Ididn’t do it on a computer. I’d just sit down for aweek and do it, typing out about 120 pages for a60-page magazine because the type was reduced.”

On his running background and training: “I went toHillsdale High School [San Mateo]. We had a cou-ple of national record-breaking teams there. Wehad five guys under 4:30 in my senior year [1962].I ran a 4:21. After college, for a while 80–90-mileweeks were pretty standard for me, sometimes100. I trained with Mejia a lot. Sometimes I did dou-ble workouts. Plus, I was working. When the part ofthe shipyard [at Hunter’s Point] where I was work-ing closed in ’71, I decided to take time off andtrain for the Marathon Trials because the qualifyingtime was 2:30. But when I started my own busi-ness, it was nuts. I had to make some choices andcutting back on training was one of them.”

Jack’s most gratifying accomplishment in the sport:“That’s a toughie. All of it was fun, and gave me asense of accomplishment. It’s hard to pin-point justone. The national cross country championships in’74 was a biggie because of the number of com-petitors we had there and the quality. Three hun-dred people on the Crystal Springs course is justnuts. Steve Prefontaine didn’t show up, but every-one else did. We tried to match Pre againstShorter, but Pre decided to stay home.”

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Wayne Glusker/Special Moments


Leydig sold running equipment out of his1968 VW van during the early and mid ’70s, andstarted Jack’s Athletic Supply in 1977—a businessby which he still makes a living today producingrace T-shirts. He still owns that van, which sportsseveral refurbishings, almost a half-million miles,and “WVTC”on the license plates.

“Jack was really a key element of running atthat time,” recalls Ken Napier, one of WVTC’searly members, and the club’s president before Ley-dig. “He just did so much. As president, I wasn’twilling to do as much as Jack. Back then, the clubpresidents did everything. I’d say that Jack was oneof the most important figures in Northern Cali-fornia running in the mid 1970s as far as promot-ing running and racing. He was a tireless worker.”

Leydig did such a good job with WVTC thatNapier soon was able to help start another—andvery different—club called the West Valley Joggersand Striders.

Amidst this frenzy of activity, Leydig man-aged to put in some pretty good times himself. Hecompeted in the ’68 U.S. Olympic Marathon Tri-als. A 2:25 at the Boston Marathon qualified himfor the 1972 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Jackdidn’t have much time for training, but he pushedhimself to the limits. Richard Delgado recalls astory about Leydig when Jack worked as a com-puter programmer for a firm contracted by theNavy. Jack was so committed to training—despitelimited time—that he’d run loops around an air-craft carrier’s flight deck while it was out to sea.

“If everyone at that time was limited to run-ning 35 miles a week, I think Jack would havebeaten us all,” admits Bill Clark, who joined

WVTC a year or two after placing second atBoston in 1968. “By 1972, WVTC was one of thebest running clubs in the country in terms of tal-ent. And Jack was the club. There were six or eightof us at the Olympic Trials in ’72. Guys like DonKardong and Duncan Macdonald joined—and alot of it was because they liked Jack.”

The long list of WVTC notables includes thestandout Colombian pair of Domingo Tibaduizaand ’71 Boston winner Alvaro Mejia, Bill Scobey(winner of the Western Hemisphere and Avenueof the Giants Marathons among others), and 1974U.S. national marathon champion Ron Wayne.

“I always admired Jack very much,” says RuthAnderson, a longtime role model for many femalerunners. “He was just so knowledgeable. He putso much effort into those early-day things. He wasdefinitely a pioneer in event management, and aheck of a good runner, too. And, of course, he wasalways running around in that van of his, sellingshoes and shirts.”

That’s what Gail Rodd (nee Gustafson)—oneof the early female running crowd—recalls bestabout Jack. “When we first started running we justhad little Keds tennis shoes until Jack came alongand sold us some real running shoes out of his van.There were no big running stores then.”

Running footwear was limited to Tigers,Pumas, adidas, and, later, Nikes. But Jack had vitalconnections, which included Bob Anderson’sStarting Line Sports, one of the few retail opera-tions for runners in the area. Anderson was alsothe founder and publisher of Runner’s World mag-azine which had corporate offices in MountainView. In fact, RW was one of two or three pio-

neering running/track & field pubs headquarteredin California at the time. One of them was a laborof love published by Leydig.

Longtime WVTC member and ’70s mastersstandout, Flory Rodd (Gail’s husband until hispassing) once wrote: “Jack published the NorCalRunning Review in the Dark Ages of running, andhis was the only reliable source for Bay Area trackand road running results and information. He wasnot only the publisher, but also the editor, reporter,and office boy. It was always deadline time at theRunning Review. It was always late. Jack’s true writ-ing forte in those days was penning ill-natured anddisagreeable notes to any of his subscribers whohad the temerity to demand their Running Reviewon time.”

That was Jack—so meticulous about his tasksthat he would write pages of instructions to each ofhis race volunteers, according to Ellen Clark. Buthe was a compassionate motivator at heart who in-spired others to lend a hand. Then, there was Jackleading trips to the Boston Marathon. CountlessCalifornians—including me—learned the ins andouts of Boston from Leydig.

As one who also has devoted a few hours to-ward Northern California running: My hat istipped to Jack Leydig. Run your next race in honorof him and email me about it. Recruit your bud-dies to do the same. I’ll pass your emails along toJack. We owe him that kind of thanks.

Mark Winitz has been running and writing aboutrunning for well over 30 years. He also assists roadracing events through his company Win It!z SportsPublic Relations and Promotions in Los Altos.

Words From OthersWhen Leydig organized the second West ValleyTrack Club “Old Timers” Reunion last September(Jack used a word much more descriptive than“Timers”), the attendees turned the gathering into aday honoring Leydig and the club’s founder FrankCunningham. We took the opportunity to obtaincomments from Jack’s peers for this story. Here aresome of them:

•“Jack had the presence of mind to ask womenlike me to join the West Valley Track Club in the early’70s, at a time when not many women were running.He called us the ‘distaff division.’ But his contributionsto running, in general, were extraordinary. He had thevision to see the wave of the future.” –Joan Ullyot,MD (women’s running pioneer, writer, and member ofU.S. national marathon teams in the 1970s.

•“Jack is just one of the good guys of the world.”—Pete League (founder of the Houston Marathonafter he moved to Texas from the Bay Area in 1971)

•“When I moved to the Bay Area in 1971, Jackwas one of the first runners to welcome me. As ayoung runner just out of college, it was an importantfirst step after graduation. Jack introduced me to alot of the runners, and we all had many great runsand gatherings over the two years I lived there. Whoknows what would have happened if he hadn’t beenthere to help?” —Jon Anderson (1972 U.S.Olympian, 10,000 meters)

•“I’ve known Jack for about 39 years, begin-

ning my sophomore year in high school. I became amember of the West Valley Track Club shortly afterthat and thrived under Jack’s leadership. Bottomline, Jack is someone you can always depend on.” —Mike Pinocci (2:14 marathoner)

•“I remember the ‘trough’ excursions to Far-rell’s Ice Cream where Jack would finish a multi-gal-lon trough of ice cream on his own and live to tell thestory. I learned organizational detail from Jack whichhas served me well in my co-meet director role ofthe Modesto-California Relays and many other crosscountry and track and field meets.” —Dave Shrock

•“In 1978, when I invented the Chronomix timer,Jack was distributing equipment through his businessthat helped make road racing much more accurate. Isold him the first digital clock which he distributed. Healso rented state-of-the-art equipment to those whocouldn’t afford to buy it.” —Bob Rush

•“In 1974, Jack trotted out to keep me com-pany in the one-hour run. After about two laps, whilehe talked non-stop and I didn’t say a word, he askedif I liked company while running. I said ‘no’ and hedisappeared.” —Kathy Himmelberger (1976women’s winner, West Valley Marathon, 3:00:36)

•“By focusing people, Jack kept us all com-peting. And the club picked up a lot of young run-ners who were coming out of high school at thetime, and we sent them to national championships.They went on to have very good running careers. A lot of that was Jack reaching out to people to attract them. Plus, his own running ability gave him

credibility.” —Bill Clark (runner-up 1968 BostonMarathon; WVTC women’s coach)

•“Jack was the world’s greatest race organizerand salesman. I don’t know how he found the time todo all that he did. The reason I ran at all was be-cause of Jack. When Jack put races together, theywere perfect. Without him, I couldn’t have run thetimes I did because there was always competition.”—Gary Goettelmann (Owner, Ryan’s Sport Shoprunning store, Santa Clara)

•“The opportunities that we got through runningwith Jack made us the people we are today. And hewas the glue that cemented lifelong friendships formany of us.” —Gail Goettelmann

•“When I first came to this country from Colom-bia, I was a retired runner after I competed in the1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. I met Jack andhe took me to these really beautiful places to run,like the trails near San Mateo. He gave me thestrength to return to running. He had all the contacts[at important races]. West Valley TC paid my fares toget to them. For that, I’m extremely grateful. He didthe same for others. The [running] community oweshim a lot.” —Alvaro Mejia (winner 1971 BostonMarathon as a WVTC member)

•“I was always amazed at Jack’s ability to handout jobs, like delivering cones to races, and to keepthings in line. And, in 1974, under Jack’s wing, WestValley Track Club put on the [first] U.S. Women’s Na-tional Marathon Championship. Let’s face it, womenwere neglected up until that time.” —Wayne Glusker

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Jack Leydig: RUNNING VISIONARY

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